Plague Doctor

Several black off-road vehicles bumped along the desolate semi-desert land, heading towards an unknown meeting point on the border between Egypt and Sudan.

"Don't worry, the people we hired are all reliable."

In the middle car, Paul Smith was talking to George Edwin and Harry Fortner. Both of these friends looked haggard, especially Edwin. They had only seen each other for a few days, and Paul Smith almost recognized him. Without him, his cheeks were so thin and sunken, and his tired eyes were filled with a strange look.

After working together for so many years, Smith has never seen Edwin like this.

"Those sellers are just minor players." Smith added, "After they took the money, they would immediately gather a group of people to prevent us from taking advantage of others. But they didn't dare to make too big a move, because It’s not us they should be afraid of, it’s the big gangs here.”

"Paul, I'm not worried about this." Fortner said with a shrug. He had been involved in bigger transactions before. Although every transaction had risks, he really wasn't worried about this. He thought Edwin was neither, Edwin was completely fascinated by those fragments...

Regarding that line of holy writings, they had made many guesses in the past two days, but they only made the fog even bigger.

Since yesterday, Fortner has stopped and told Edwin that he would first look at other cultural relics and the mummy mentioned by the seller to get more clues before making inferences.

Because with just such a broken water bowl and a line of holy writings, there really can't be any conclusion.

But... that was only one of the reasons. Fortner could feel that he had to pull out and cool down, otherwise he might also get sucked in.

"I see you all look bad." Smith joked, "Be careful of the women here, be careful of AIDS, that thing is really fatal."

Fortner still managed to squeeze out a smile to deal with it, but Edwin seemed not to hear the conversation between them, immersed in his own spiritual world.

It was still morning, and the scorching sun had not yet become violent, but this semi-desert was already shrouded in a layer of scorching steam, making the wind and sand blowing like roasted blades, while the few dwarf trees and miscellaneous trees on the ground were The grass seems to be on the verge of death.

The off-road vehicle convoy gradually moved away from the nearby cities and towns. Not to mention the human habitation, there was not even a wild dog.

It wasn't until the convoy was about to arrive at the meeting place that they saw several tents set up in the desert ahead. Some vehicles were parked around the tents, and some guards were standing guard and patrolling. Guns were hung on the bodies of those tall and strong men. Weapons, all with evil faces.

The vehicle stopped some way away from the camp. Paul Smith got out of the vehicle and negotiated with Eldin who came with the people. Then the convoy was able to pass and stopped at the camp. Then, Fortner and Edwin got out of the car, took their tools, and walked into the camp followed by a team of their own bodyguards.

"Have you brought everything?" Edwin asked as soon as he saw Eldin, his tone was like a man who has been thirsty for water for a long time.

"Mr. Edwin, follow me, everyone is inside." Eldin nodded, feeling more confident than before. After all, there was a large team of men around him.

Edwin hurried towards the main tent indicated by Eldin, and Fortner and Smith had to take long steps to follow him.

When they entered the tent, they saw the other two sellers that day, Bashir and Ella, as well as more armed guards. This tent is quite spacious, with a long table in the middle, covered with white cloth, and behind it, covered by a large piece of nylon cloth, are vaguely exposed three rectangular outlines, which seem to be three coffins.

A mummy's coffin?

When Fortner looked at those outlines, he couldn't help but feel excited; let alone Edwin, he almost rushed forward, but was stopped by Bashir who came forward.

"Mr. Edwin, don't worry." Bashir became more confident and a little more domineering, "We have many other good things."

Ella was even more domineering, with an automatic rifle and several rounds of bullet belts hanging on her body, "You have brought your money, we give you things, you give us money, that's what happened today, if What are you thinking about, be careful not to go back."

"Don't talk nonsense to me!" Edwin suddenly shouted violently, without any of his usual gentleness. Veins protruded on his pale and thin old face. "The money will be given to you, but you don't understand the current situation. It's not that simple... …These things involve secrets, I can feel them, secrets…”

Bashir and Ella were both stunned. The old man looked like he was addicted to drugs. They looked at each other. Does that mean the things are more valuable?

"Edwin means the secret of history." Paul Smith immediately smoothed things over. "For those who love archeology, that is what makes cultural relics truly priceless."

"If you have any good stuff, bring it out." Fortner also said, "As long as we like it, the price can be discussed."

He didn't know if this old friend had realized that he would fall into such a mental state a few days ago, so he called him in Lundy for help.

But now he thinks that after this transaction is over, it seems that it will not be as simple as just sleeping. This old friend is too stressed and wants to achieve the level of Champollion so much that he almost collapses. You may need to take some time off to adjust your mood, or even see a psychiatrist.

However, Fortner watched Bashir walk to the rectangular table at this time, lift the white cloth covering the table, and reveal the cultural relics on the table.

His eyes suddenly opened and his heart clenched...

There were some bottles and jars of pottery on the long table, which did not surprise him because

For a grave to have a water bowl there would be these vessels.

What caught his eye was a pottery animal statue placed in the middle of the table, with a ram's head and a lion's body. In his trance just now, he seemed to see the two curved ram's horns rotating, like a whirlpool, rotating for several seconds. Thousands of years of history, turning countless secrets.

Edwin had already walked up quickly, and the expression on his face became even weirder. He was also looking at the animal pottery statue, and he murmured a sound that others could not hear or understand, which was mixed with English. : "The ram-headed sun god... here, in the Nubia region... the Nile River... the Kushites..."

Others may not be able to hear anything, but when Fortner listened to these words, his mind was churning, and other knowledge and ideas came out.

Could it be that his previous interpretation of that line of holy text was simply in the wrong direction... The rebellion did not occur during the Djoser period, but during the New Kingdom period...

That water bowl and this tomb are products of the New Kingdom period?

I don't know why, but when Fortner walked towards the animal statue, his heart felt a little bit, Edwin said, inexplicable fear.

Love the Plague Doctor.